another tom story

OK, Orinsekwans, I've got another one (now Henry, please don't get too upset):

While it's certainly true that Estelle & Tom may have had their "disagreements", she certainly was not hesitant to use his services as henchman and "enforcer".

In the summer of 1967, I was 15 and a "camper-worker', assisting the drama counselor that year, Al Lipton, and generally running rec hall stuff (like being projectionist, etc.) I was friendly with Al's son Josh and we were exploring, in our own 15-year-old-idiotic way, the psychedelic summer.

Since I was smoking at the time (also idiotic -- now tobacco-free for over 16 years), I thought it would be cool to smoke tobacco out of a hookah. So I bought one in downtown Albany and was using it at camp.

Estelle caught wind of my "drug use" and assumed that I was smoking marijuana in the thing (at that time in my life I had never even seen the stuff). So she fired me and also got rid of a girl named Marilyn (can't remember her last name - somebody help).

Tom was assigned to drive us, in that big old Caddy of his, to the Trailways station in Albany and make sure we got on the bus to NY. As Marilyn's boyfriend was allegedly waiting for her at the end of the road, Tom drove directly across the cornfields over to Route 9 to avoid the guy -- all the time with one hand on Marilyn's wrist to prevent her from getting out of the car. What an adventure!

Phil